GC HOKE

You can go ahead and ban me too, and I won't even mention the high school on Prices Fork Rd. It seems to me all but one of those posts were sincere. It's mostly probable that the sincere ones didn't know that the forbidden named school wasn't in the SWVA.com area. I know rules are necessary for any successful entity, and I respect that, but "the hammer," and "try me," I can get at work, and are the opposite of why I participate in this site...to talk about and read about something fun, sports, with others who share the same interest. Good day sir.

I agree cuz.

4 I think. One was an interception on a hail mary at the end of the half. The other three were fumbles and very costly.

I was at the game. Abingdon was stronger and faster in all facets of the game. Yes, GC hurt themselves with fumbles inside the redzone twice, but to be fair, Abingdon also dropped an easy TD pass on their first possession after their opening kick return score. So, it still would have been a two touchdown game. Abingdon looked to have a solid club, but nowhere near the teams they had the last couple of years. They have good, tough running backs. QB play was solid, but I don't think they will hurt teams with the pass. They were definitely the better team tonight though. GC just has no depth or team speed at all. They did play hard and didn't give up, which I like to see.

You are absolutely correct. Gate City fans are spoiled. In all sports. I am one of them. The expectations are very high each season. Regarding football, Coach Fry set the bar very high. You either stay up there, or go down. The athletes are there, it's just that many of the premier ones choose to play other sports and not football. Kids play the sports that are most appealing to them. Instead of playing 2 or 3 sports, many kids are just playing 1 or 2, with football being the sport not played. I am not declaring that football is no longer king at Gate City, but it's not as lopsided as it used to be. It does run in cycles though, and most likely it will cycle back up in the future.

I don't know. My wording of Calhoun being out was not the best in that I hope I didn't give the impression that he will be back against Abingdon. I was just saying that whenever he comes back, that would help the wishbone offense alot.

Regarding GC's offense, I don't think they have enough speed to run the spread effectively. I have seen them scrimmage Volunteer and Graham. They ran the ball fine in those scrimmages. But I agree, i bet Richlands is in a different category strength and size wise. Although I didn't see the Richlands game. I can't imagine Abingdon would blow us out this year at home. Beat us, yes, I could see that, but blowout, I don't think so. If that happened, it would be a case of us getting down early, not showing any heart, and just giving up. Question: I think I read or heard we only had about 40 yds. rushing against Richlands. Does that include the negative yds. from sacks on the QB, or is that strictly from designed runs? I think the wishbone suits our personnel fairly well, and getting Calhoun back will help alot. I would like to see some quick passes over the middle mixed in. Did we try those Friday? Finally, TTown, I don't think Mack is as old as you think he is. He's only a sophomore.

I agree with 99% of your post, but did you not believe me when I said I was not trying to solicit compliments? That was not the purpose of my post at all. I agree Richlands has been dominant the last 4 years or so. Their program is amazing. But I just feel that fans can show some objectivity by giving an acknowledgement that the other team did some goods things too, not simply that my team screwed up in some instances. Richlands fans, I'm not picking on you, and I meant no disrespect. We are the same way. I do know what "fan" is short for.

Along similar lines, i would like to make a comment about nearly all of the Richlands' fans' comments on the Richlands/GC game last week. It seems the consensus amongst the Blues faithful is that they played pretty badly, the secondary was not good, and they kept their offense vanilla so as not to show anything to Union. I wasn't at the game, so I can't comment whether any of that is true or not (all 3 could very well be true). Having said that, wouldn't it be proper as a fan to give your opponent just a little bit of credit? I'm not soliciting for compliments by no means. But don't you know that some GC fans are lamenting the fact of how badly we played, with the INTs in the red zone and all?

Don't forget Yuma and Hiltons.

I've seen them mostly run their offense out of the wishbone. It will be an interesting matchup. Regarding "that damned horn," are you old enough to remember the cannonball back in the '70's? It was a genuine train steam whistle, powered by hand fed coal. It put the horns they use now to shame. It was so loud that I could hear it on the other side of Clinch Mtn. where I lived.

So do I. I think it's a tossup.

Go to VHSL.org and look under the Parents & Students tab at top, then under Eligibility. It lists all 13 individual eligibility regulations, including the transfer rule.

You just described to a T last year's game. You are probably correct, but that's why they play the game, to find out who won. Of course I would like to see a win, but a close or respectable loss would give GC alot of confidence against a program of Richlands' caliber. And I agree with GC1, if GC has some key injuries early, it will be tough to earn wins.

There's really no point in debating it. We will find out in 11 weeks how many games GC won. I do know one thing, though. They moved the ball against Graham at will. Either Graham's run defense is not good, which I don't believe, or GC is pretty good at running the ball. If GC can get some steady QB play, I see them winning 6 games.

I agree that Graham was bigger on both sides of the ball, but I actually thought our line play was equal or better to Graham's. IMO, GC should go into "3 yards and a cloud of dust" mode, and try to dominate time of possession with 12-15 play drives. Maybe some quickie passes up the middle, or quick flares to the side mixed in. I agree Great City that GC will have some success running the ball this year.

Question:. Is Taymon Cooke #5? He has some serious speed and moves.

GC will be ok. Held their own with Graham. You're right, we have been really spoiled. #10 Mack looks very quick, albeit against the 2nd team. We just don't have any great speed, but line play looks good. Final: starters Graham 14 GC 0. 2nd team/jv, GC 7 Graham 0.

I'm here. Graham has scored their TD's on speed and athleticism alone. GC has moved the ball all night, but hadn't punched it in. #10 for Gmen reminds me of a young Vince Young. Graham is very sloppy and undisciplined. In my opinion, GC has won the line of scrimmage. They just don't have any speed. If Graham cleans some things up, they could be very good.

Regarding the GC/Volunteer scrimmage, I saw some good things. I would be very encouraged with a 6-4 season. But with our schedule, it will probably be 4-6 or 5-5. Akers did rotate an awful lot of players in. 1st team and 2nd team were playing side by side the whole night. I think that is a good strategy for a scrimmage and gives everybody experience. I think Sallee finds open receivers better, and might have a better arm. I think Vermillion is harder nosed and is probably the better runner. Both players have strengths and weaknesses, just like everyone else. I think Noe would be the better option at RB, if he can turn it up inside and stay healthy. Calhoun is a stud and can put the hit on you. #56 can lay the hit also. I hope Vermillion and Noe are ok. I think they got hurt a little bit. But seemed to be ok on the sidelines. I hope the RB for Volunteer, #5, is not hurt bad. He looked to me to be their best player by far, and scored their only varsity TD on a brilliant run. He hurt his knee or his leg on the next series on a bonecrushing high and low hit, and limped off and never returned. I like Barry Jones. He looked to have a good scheme. I just don't think Volunteer has the athletes.

See my post in the Scrimmage thread for proof that Local_Insight has a bad memory.

You better re-read your original post, which I have quoted here.

Yes he was! He was downright hilarious. I always thought he could make a good living as a stand-up comedian. Of course, he would get in your grill sometimes as well. He got all of our attention one day in volunteer workouts his first year. He was disappointed in the effort which we were going after loose balls. He showed everyone there how he wanted us to go after loose balls. He rolled the ball down the court, took off in a dead sprint after it, and laid out in a horizontal dive on top of the ball. I bet he slid 20 ft. on the gym floor.

I was a freshman when Coach Colobro came to Gate City. I think he wanted to establish his own identity, especially following Coach Fry. He was also the AD, so he had the power to do this. I hated the change of colors. I played baseball, and I remember my Jr. year, we had navy blue uniforms, and my Sr. year, we had Carolina blue uniforms. I think he changed it back to Royal blue in the early 90s.

Still, a remarkable accomplishment. As a parent of a daughter who has played against all the Wash. Co. girls, I say congratulations.